1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clothes washing machine of the drum type. The invention relates particularly to a washing machine of the front-loading type comprising a control unit, a washing tub, a drum which is rotatable within said washing tub and capable of containing the items of laundry to be washed, a door assembly for closing the tub and an annular bellow-type gasket interposed between the door assembly and the washing tub.
In the above type of washing machines with a horizontal or near-horizontal drum axis, there is a danger both during washing and during spin-drying that an item of laundry can partially extend beyond the drum opening in a zone between the door, particularly its domed central wall member of glass and of circular shape, and the bellow-type gasket or a portion thereof, so that this item can become caught between such gasket and the glass door.
If this takes place during the washing process, the friction that occurs, as the drum rotates, between the item of laundry and the door gasket will have an adverse effect such that it may result in the transfer of any detergent residues and/or sludge deposits present on the gasket to the item of laundry. Moreover, since this item of laundry has been withdrawn from the washing process, this may result in the gasket and piece of laundry sustaining wear and tear owing to friction.
If this should occur during spin-drying, the piece of laundry in question will inevitably be damaged, i.e. the fabric will be mechanically destroyed and the gasket seal will also sustain considerable wear and tear.
2. Description of the Related Art
The current state of the art, particularly in washing machines with high-speed spin-drying functions, involves the application of a laundry guard or diverter, which is designed to divert the piece of laundry inside the machine back to the drum. The current state of the art does not frequently achieve this, or does not do so adequately, for some items of laundry (i.e. socks and the like) as well as for large quantities of laundry.
In this case the laundry guard or diverter causes extra damage to the laundry since at a high number of revolutions per minute, it bounces against the laundry guard at high speed instead of sliding onto the gasket surface.
It would thus be desirable, and this is the aim of the present invention, to provide a clothes washing machine having a system capable of avoiding the above-mentioned disadvantages and to avoid this kind of damage to the laundry in a very reliably way.